The Hard Part
by Addictedtobooks
Summary: Something happens while the team is on a mission that shows Artemis why it can be hard to be on and love the good side. Short Spitfire one-shot, enjoy! T for a tiny bit of language/content


**A/N: I honestly have no idea why I wrote this. Or where the idea truly spawned from, all I know is that I just finished watching YJ the other day and ship spitfire **_**SO HARD. **_**… My friend mentioned that she hoped no one would die in a mission, or almost die, … and this happened. **

**Enjoy and please review!**

Most people understand that being a hero, being a good guy, or being someone special is hard. To have powers or a special skill and use them for good is hard, and Artemis always knew that. That was always why her family chose the easy side, the bad side. At least, that's the reason she always came up with; it's hard to be good, easy to be bad. Standing in present time though, in this mission with her team she came up with a new reason to not be a hero: You will usually fall for another hero.

Falling for another hero had never posed a problem before, not even the thought of it. But now, as she watched_ her_ hero fall, she realized what the hard part was: Sometimes the bad guys win, and the good guys fall.

And sometimes the heroes cannot stand back up.

"_WALLY!" _The scream had ripped through Artemis' throat before she became conscious of what really happened. She watched the red-headed boy for a minute, yearning to help him.

_Artemis,_ Nightwing spoke sharply through her mind, _Stick. To. The. Mission. _Artemis wanted to scream at him as she stood there, frozen for what felt like an eternity, staring into yellow and red until her eyes went blurry.

She didn't know what to do, and hated it – hated feeling so helpless. _Artemis look out! _M'gann screamed through the telepathic link. Before Artemis was aware of what she was doing she had an arrow notched and pulled back to her cheek, aimed straight at a white and red mask.

"Oh," The mask purred, "Was that… him, Artemis? I'm _so_ sorry," Artemis didn't move a muscle, the arrow still aimed at the teasing cat mask. "I warned you… Falling in love is just a pain in the ass."

Artemis glared, letting the arrow fly, "So are you Jade."

Her sister laughed, having caught the arrow easily, "Poor, helpless, _predictable, _Artemis," she taunted, "Can't even avenge her boyfriend's death. Pity."

_Except… I'm not dead… am I? _Artemis tensed again, whipping around to look for Wally, gone from his place on the ground. Her heart fell when she could not find the speedster, and she looked down, cursing her mind for playing tricks on her. She relaxed for a split second before remembering her other problem.

As she turned back around she realized what she had forgotten, "Too slow," Jade whispered, a knife at her neck before Artemis could even move all the way around. "Sometimes being a hero, and loving a hero for that matter, is just too damn difficult, isn't it?"

Artemis was breathing heavily, scared out of her wits, "Where's your daughter? She would love it if you killed her aunt, wouldn't she?"

"Like I said a long time ago, Artemis, I'm your sister, I don't _really_ want you dead. You're needed alive anyway." Jade explained, still holding the knife at her neck regardless.

_Help, _Artemis sent out to the team emotionally, _help would be nice. _

_Help is already on the way Artemis, _ She had heard and understood Conner, but was still taken aback when she was suddenly on the ground and Jade was flung numerous yards away into a innocent tree.

"What the…" Artemis mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. Before she was able to even look up at her hero she was plucked from the ground and moving. There were only four people she knew off who could move this fast. Three of which were nowhere near the team, and one of which had been lying lifeless on the ground moments ago. On instinct, Artemis slowly looked up, and felt very overwhelmed by her contrasting emotions; surprised, overjoyed, lucky, but most of all confused. "W-Wally?"

"Told you I was still alive, babe, you just chose to believe it was a trick of your mind."

Artemis stared mouth agape, "But how? I saw you… you were…"

"Dead?" He asked, grinning down at her as he ran. She only nodded, "Well that's false. I was only… almost dead."

She frowned, "How did you…" she trailed off, shaking her head, "How are you okay now?" He looked down at her and realization dawned on her face, "Nightwing," they both said together, Wally with a knowing grin.

"That's why he told me to stick to the mission… He was already on helping you…"

Wally nodded, shrugging nonchalantly, "He's a good best friend to have." He began to slow down, carefully putting Artemis back on her feet as he stopped near the bio-ship. Suddenly she jumped up and kissed him, full on the mouth, something she never did around anyone else, "What was that for?" Wally asked, grinning wickedly once she pulled back.

She hit his arm, "I thought you were dead! It… It was the scariest thing I'd ever witness and thought about. It terrified me." She told him. He lost his grin slowly and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry,"

"It's okay," she whispered, hugging him back tightly, "its part of being and loving a hero. You take a lot of hits when helping to save the world and it's easy to get hit too hard and fall."

Finally Artemis realized the most difficult part of being and loving a hero, you never knew which hit would be the last.


End file.
